Saturday, September 18, 2010

Laundry List

I haven't posted a Random25 on the blog for a while.

The post title is self-explanatory. The songs below are what the iPod shuffle threw my way whilst I was doing the laundry a couple of days back.

Not a bad selection of tracks. Pretty mainstream which reflects the music on my iPod at the moment. I probably should shake it up a bit. Probably the most obscure band in the list is the post-punkish New Age. I know absolutely nothing about them, short of the fact that there's nothing about them on the internet and they're better than seventy-five per cent of the bands that Simon Reynolds gushes over in Rip It Up.

Oh yeah, click to enlarge . . . and to enrage.

18 comments:

robert said...

Dare I ask how many tracks you've got on the Ipod? I'm guessing north of plenty ...

Imposs1904 said...

North of plenty but south of obsessive.

mikeovswinton said...

Ever heard Dexys Midnight Runners cover of Margarita Time? (I have it on vinyl and have seen it done live. Obsessive?)

mikeovswinton said...

Incidentally, Robert might like to know that depending upon the length of the tracks there is a limited capacity of an ipod - mine has about 834 on, although that includes a fair few jazz tracks clocking up 10 mins plus. Or you can measure it time wise - I think it works out at something like 2 days 5 hours worth. And it is officially full - I have to delete out before I can load in.

Imposs1904 said...

@Mike

Never heard that version by Dexys but funnily enough I remember reading about it at the time. I remember the music journalist writing interviewing/writing about Dexys expressing incredulity that Kevin Rowland would think that Margarita Time was a great pop record.

I'm guessing it was when Dexys had ended the boycott of interviews with the music press and were (probably) promoting the third album. That means it must have been 85/86, and Record Mirror would have been my music magazine of choice at that time.

@Mike and Robert

I don't have it readily to hand, but I'm guessing my iPod has about 1200 songs on it at the moment. It needs a clear out. Too much duff album tracks that I always fast forward.

Imposs1904 said...

Just had a quick shufty at my iPod and I currently hav 1577 songs on there.

As much as I love The Jam, I think it was a mistake to put Direction, Reaction, Creation on there. Apart from the couple of tracks on the Snap compilation, most of the stuff from their first two albums is pretty sub-standard, and yet it is those self-same tracks which insist on pushing to the front when I place it on shuffle.

Survival of the mediocre and all that.

mikeovswinton said...

Dating is right. It was the "b-side" of sorts to the single release of "This is what she's like", which was a double-45, and also had "Reminisce Pt 1" on it. ("Searching for the spirit of Brendan Behan in the bars of Dublin") So- 1985. They did it live, with slide guitar, at the Apollo in Manchester (and other places) in November 1985.

Actually my ipod has 863 tracks, and you are correct - album tracks that never get played are the bane of the ipod. Did you ever hear Kenny Gamble's verdict on albums? "3 killer, the rest filler".

mikeovswinton said...

By the way; there's a reissue version of Too-rye-aye which, completist that I am I bought solely for the excellent version of MFSB's "TSOP". (Mercury 514839-2, 1996) which has "Marguerita Time" on it.

Imposs1904 said...

Did you ever hear Kenny Gamble's verdict on albums? "3 killer, the rest filler"."

I'm afraid he's right, which is a shame because I like to listen to albums without having to faff about with skipping tracks.

Just checked out Dexy's version of "Marguerita Time" via YouTube (no video, just the audio) and, whilst it works, I still lean towards the Status Quo original.

robert said...

Crikey, Mike and Darren! You 2 have many plenty tunes on yer gadgets ;>)
My pedestrian coal-powered MP3 player only holds about 100 tracks. Ah well. I could claim that each track is over 100 mins long, comprising free-form Peruvian folk rock concept albums from the 1960s, but that would be a ruddy lie.

Imposs1904 said...

It'd be a lie 'cos in fact your mp3 gizmo is knee deep in Party talks dating back to the 1910s.

That Moses Baritz talk on Mozart and Revolutionary Syndicalism from 1913 that was originally recorded on a wax cylinder is a particular favourite

robert said...

;>) it's a fair kop ...
And today I've been hearing Jo Ghandi of the 'Movement for World Government'. Much waffling to be heard.
So were there any tapes you never played during your legendary stint at H.O.? And do you still bear the scars from cutting yourself on Lady Olga's ultra-posh accent? My bandages come off next month...

mikeovswinton said...

Robert; that would be "chunez" I believe.
Yes, a rare bit of cynicism from Mr Gamble. I have him on video describing the first time he heard the intro section of Backstabbers being played to him by Huff and Bell - the delight in his eyes is palpable.
(Mind you, it must have made him quite rich, but I insist on thinking that its the music.)

mikeovswinton said...

Robert; I saw a device that looked very like an ipod on sale in a shop in a back street in Kennedy Town in Hong Kong last January. (Just round the corner from Hong Kong's, and indeed possibly the world's, best Nepalese-Spanish tapas fusion restaurant. True. It was heaving the night I went. Mind you, it only has two tables.) Even the packaging was spot on. It was going new for about £15. I only didn't buy it because my niece reckoned it would do some fairly horrendous things to my computer.

mikeovswinton said...

In case you think I'm not being entirely truthful;

www.i-curry.com

robert said...

Hey Mike,
"chunez" huh? You Salfordian/Mancunians are way ahead of the times; here in Carlisle the Parish council has applied to Whitehall for a permit so that us citizens can make reference to 'block-rocking beats'. Can't say I know what they are, mind.

"possibly the world's, best Nepalese-Spanish tapas fusion restaurant"

Oh aye, nice one. I wonder what kind of fusion would best describe the Station Road pies circa 1980s?
(Sorry Darren, obscure RL reference)

mikeovswinton said...

Gristle/lardy pastry fusions? In those days you didn't worry about the pies, Robert, you gazed upon the sporting wonder that was Danny Wilson and wondered what on Earth he was doing at Station Road when the world should have had the chance to watch him in his pomp and glory.
And incidentally, the nepalese/spanish fusion place really exists, and is quite good. As did the "ipod".

robert said...

Yeah, you're right. I saw Gigg's dad playing when Swinton met Carlisle in the early/mid 80s. Very classy. Shame his son wondered off to the wrong sport ;>)